Operations Federal Intelligence Service (Germany)

1 operations

1.1 1960s
1.2 1970s

1.2.1 1972 munich olympic bombings


1.3 1980s

1.3.1 libyan bombings in germany


1.4 1990s

1.4.1 spying on journalists
1.4.2 tiitinen list


1.5 2000s

1.5.1 promoting invasion of iraq
1.5.2 israel vs. lebanon
1.5.3 fighting tax evasion
1.5.4 kosovo


1.6 2010s

operations
1960s

in first years of oversight state secretary in federal chancellery of konrad adenauer of operation in pullach, bnd continued ways of forebear, gehlen organization.

the bnd racked initial east-west cold war successes concentrating on east germany. bnd s reach encompassed highest political , military levels of gdr regime. knew carrying capacity of every bridge, bed count of every hospital, length of every airfield, width , level of maintenance of roads soviet armor , infantry divisions have traverse in potential attack on west. every sphere of eastern life known bnd.

unsung analysts @ pullach, contacts in east, figuratively functioned flies on wall in ministries , military conferences. when soviet kgb suspected east german army intelligence officer, lieutenant colonel , bnd agent, of spying, soviets investigated , shadowed him. bnd positioned , able inject forged reports implying loose spy kgb investigator, arrested soviets , shipped off moscow. not knowing how long caper stay under wraps, real spy told ready recall; made move west @ appropriate time.

the east german regime, however, fought back. still unhindered flight west possibility, infiltration started on grand scale , reversal of sorts took hold. during 1960s many 90% of bnd s lower-level informants in east germany worked double agents east german security service, later known stasi. several informants in east berlin reported in june , july 1961 of street closures, clearing of fields, accumulation of building materials , police , army deployments in specific parts of eastern sector, other measures bnd determined lead division of city. however, agency reluctant report communist initiatives , had no knowledge of scope , timing because of conflicting inputs. erection of berlin wall on 13 august 1961 came surprise, , bnd s performance in political field thereafter wrong , remained spotty , unimpressive.

negative view of bnd not justified during … [1967 and] 1968. bnd s military work had been outstanding , , in sectors of intelligence field bnd still showed brilliance: in latin america , in middle east regarded best-informed secret service.

the bnd offered fair , reliable amount of intelligence on soviet , soviet-bloc forces in eastern europe, regarding elaboration of nato warning system against soviet operations against nato territory, in close cooperation bundeswehr (german armed forces). detected deployment of soviet missiles cuba in 1962, , subsequently warned united states, resulting in cuban missile crisis.

one high point of bnd intelligence work culminated in june 1967 forecast – hour – of outbreak of six-day war in middle east on 5 june 1967.

according declassified transcripts of united states national security council meeting on 2 june 1967, cia director richard helms interrupted secretary of state dean rusk reliable information – contrary rusk s presentation – israelis attack on day , time. rusk shot back: quite out of question. our ambassador in tel aviv assured me yesterday normal. helms replied: sorry, adhere opinion. israelis strike , object end war in favor extreme rapidity. president lyndon johnson asked helms source of information. helms said: mr. president, have allied secret service. report absolutely reliable. helms information came bnd.

a further laudable success involved bnd s activity during czech crisis in 1968. pullach cryptography functioning, bnd predicted invasion of soviet , other warsaw pact troops czechoslovakia. cia analysts on other hand did not support notion of fraternal assistance satellite states of moscow; , ambassador soviet union, llewellyn thompson, quite irritated, called secret bnd report given german fabrication . @ 23:11 on 20 august 1968, bnd radar operators first observed abnormal activity on czech airspace. agent on ground in prague called bnd out-station in bavaria: russians coming. warsaw pact forces had moved forecast.

however, sinking efficiency of bnd in last years of reinhard gehlen became evident. refusal correct reports questionable content strained organization s credibility, , dazzling achievements became infrequent commodity. veteran agent remarked @ time bnd pond contained sardines, though few years earlier pond had been alive sharks.

the fact bnd score successes despite east german communist stasi interference, internal malpractice, inefficiencies , infighting, due select members of staff took upon step , overcome existing maladies. abdication of responsibility reinhard gehlen malignancy; cronyism remained pervasive, nepotism (at 1 time gehlen had 16 members of extended family on bnd payroll). did younger generation advance substitute new ideas of bad habits caused gehlen s semi-retired attitude , frequent holiday absences.

1970s

after gehlen’s departure, successor, bundeswehr brigadier general gerhard wessel, called program of modernization , streamlining. political changes in west german government , reflection bnd @ low level of efficiency, service began rebuild.

1972 munich olympic bombings

the kidnapping , murder of israeli athletes @ 1972 olympics in munich watershed event bnd, following warnings other countries, because led agency build counter-terrorism capabilities.

1980s
libyan bombings in germany

in 1986, bnd deciphered report of libyan embassy in east berlin regarding successful implementation of 1986 berlin discotheque bombing.

1990s
spying on journalists

in 2005, public scandal erupted (dubbed journalistenskandal, journalists scandal) on revelations bnd had placed number of german journalists under surveillance since the-mid 1990s, in attempt discover source of information leaks bnd regarding activities of service in connection war in iraq , war against terror . bundestag constituted investigative committee ( parlamentarischer untersuchungsausschuss ) investigate allegations. committee tasked former federal appellate court (bundesgerichtshof) judge dr. gerhard schäfer (de) special investigator, published report confirming illegal bnd operations involving , targeting journalists between 1993 , 2005. consequence, chancellery issued executive order banning bnd operational measures against journalists aim protect service.

the committee published final report in 2009, confirmed allegations, identifying intent protect bnd disclosure of classified information , finding lack of oversight within senior leadership of service did not identify responsible members within government.

tiitinen list

in 1990, bnd gave finnish security intelligence service called tiitinen list—which supposedly contains names of finns believed have links stasi. list classified , locked in safe after director of finnish security intelligence service, seppo tiitinen, , president of finland, mauno koivisto, determined based on vague hints instead of hard evidence.

2000s

promoting invasion of iraq

on 5 february 2003, colin powell made case military attack on iraq in front of un security council. powell supported case information received bnd, instead of mr. hans blix , iaea. bnd had collected intelligence informant known rafid al-janabi alias curveball, claimed iraq in possession of weapons of mass destruction, apart torturing , killing on 1,000 dissidents (human persons) each year, on 20 years. rafid employed before , after 2003 incident lead invasion of iraq. payments of 3,000 euros monthly made cover firm called thiele und friedrichs (munich).

as result of premature cancellation, al-janabi filed lawsuit @ munich industrial court , won case.

israel vs. lebanon

following 2006 lebanon war. bnd mediated secret negotiations between israel , hezbollah, leading 2008 israel–hezbollah prisoner exchange.

fighting tax evasion

in beginning of 2008, revealed bnd had managed recruit excellent sources within liechtenstein banks , had been conducting espionage operations in principality since beginning of 2000s. bnd mediated german finance ministry s $7.3 million acquisition of cd former employee of lgt group – liechtenstein bank owned country s ruling family. while finance ministry defends deal, saying result in several hundred millions of dollars in tax payments, sale remains controversial, government agency has paid possibly stolen data. see 2008 liechtenstein tax affair.

kosovo

in november 2008, 3 german bnd agents arrested in kosovo allegedly throwing bomb @ european union international civilian office, oversees kosovo s governance. later army of republic of kosovo had accepted responsibility bomb attack. laboratory tests had shown no evidence of bnd agents involvement. however, germans released 10 days after arrested. suspected arrest revenge kosovo authorities bnd report organized crime in kosovo accuses kosovo prime minister hashim thaçi, former prime minister ramush haradinaj of far-reaching involvement in organized crime.

2010s

in 2014 employee of bnd arrested handing on secret documents united states. suspected of handing on documents committee investigating nsa spying in germany. german government responded espionage expelling top cia official in berlin. in december 2016, wikileaks published 2,420 documents bnd , federal office protection of constitution (bfv). published materials had been submitted in 2015 part of german parliamentary inquiry surveillance activities of bnd , cooperation national security agency.